I never used to use gloves but while never getting sick... my hands will swell up after field dressing a deer. Not to where you would go to the doctor, and it lasts maybe a day, but after I am done gutting a deer, I wash my hands and for the next couple hours, they just swell up. So I started using those glove your wife gets to wash dishes in hot water, and since I used them, no more hands swelling. I asked my doctor about that and he said some people are allergic slightly to blood and blood products. But he warned, make sure you're not allergic to latex either.